You Are My Sunshine
by Lilybelmae
Summary: One stormy night, Ponyboy has a nightmare while Soda is out of town. What happens when Darry comforts him? Read and find out! I do not own The Outsiders. SE Hinton does. Copyright 1967 Speak Press.


It was a humid Friday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was sprawled out on the living room carpet finishing the last of my math homework. It was mostly algebra and it was kind of tricky. I had to have Darry check it over for me every night to make sure I understood it ok. I finished the last problem which also happened to be the hardest one and yawned.

"Darry!" I called, "I'm done my homework!"

Darry strode into living room from the kitchen and sat down next to me. Without a word he picked up my homework and looked it over. Then he handed it back to me and pointed to the first algebra problem.

"Not bad, Ponyboy" Darry praised "But you forgot to solve for y on your first problem. You stopped after you solved for x"

"Oops," I sighed. "Thanks for catching that Darry."

"No problem, Pony" Darry replied, ruffling my hair.

I scowled, then fixed my hair and corrected the problem before showing it to Darry again.

"Nice job, Pony" Darry approved.

"Thanks, Dar" I yawned.

"Okay, little man," Darry chuckled. "Time for bed"

"Okay, Darry" I sighed.

I was feeling kind of nervous since Sodapop wouldn't be home tonight. He and Steve were spending the night in Oklahoma City because they were invited to Steve's cousin's wedding. I almost always had nightmares when I slept by myself. I hoped and prayed I wouldn't embarrass myself by having a nightmare tonight and waking Darry up. He had enough to worry about without me waking him up in the middle of the night. I walked into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and then I got undressed and climbed into bed. I was out like I light before I knew it; I guess I was tireder than I thought. The next thing I knew I was awake and in a bright green field surrounded by people. Mom and Dad were there and so were Johnny and Dallas as well as Darry, Sodapop, Steve and Two-Bit. We were having a picnic and Dad was tossing a football around with Darry, Soda, Steve and Dally while Johnny and Two-Bit sat on a picnic blanket with Mom, eating fried chicken and laughing over one of Two-Bit's hare-brained jokes. I sat down on the picnic blanket next to Johnny.

"Hey, Ponyboy" Johnny smiled, "It's good to see you again"

"It's great to see you too, Johnny" I replied "And Dallas and Mom and Dad too"

"Hey, Pony" Dally loped over, "How've you been?"

"Not bad, Dal" I admitted. "Life's been rough without you and Johnny and Mom and Dad though"

"It'll be okay, Pone" Johnny said gently, "We'll always be with you"

"What do you mean by that, Johnny?" I asked.

Johnny didn't answer and just then a giant cloud of darkness moved closer and closer to our picnic. It swallowed up Johnny and Dally and moved towards Steve and Two-Bit.

"NO!" I screamed trying to stop the darkness from taking away my friends.

"Do not try to stop me, Ponyboy," the darkness whispered, "I will only cause your loved ones more pain"

It swallowed up Steve and Two-Bit and I could hear my friends screaming in agony within the darkness.

"NO!" I screamed again pulling at the darkness, "PLEASE DON'T HURT THEM! LET THEM GO!"

The darkness ignored me and swept over to Mom and Dad, engulfing them in its shadowy grasp. The cries of agony got louder and I could feel the darkness sweeping over me and grabbing Sodapop.

"PONYBOY!" He hollered, "HELP ME, PLEASE!"

"SODA!" I shouted trying to rip open the darkness and get my family and friends back.

The next thing I knew I was being thrown backwards and the darkness was soaring towards Darry as the pained cries got louder and louder.

"NOT DARRY!" I bellowed at the darkness, "PLEASE, NOT DARRY TOO!"

But the darkness didn't listen, just flew across the field and consumed Darry. I couldn't take it anymore and started attacking the darkness, hoping I could free my friends and family.

"MOM!" I screeched. "DAD! JOHNNY! DALLAS! STEVE! TWO-BIT! SODA! DARRY! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE!"

My attempts did nothing and the darkness flew away, leaving me all alone in the field, the pained cries of my loved ones flooding my ears.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I screamed in agony.

The next thing I knew I was back in my room wide awake and looking into Darry's worried eyes. I buried my face in his shoulder, shaking uncontrollably and started to bawl.

"Shh, baby, shh," Darry soothed as he rubbed small circles on my back, "You're okay, you're okay. It was only a dream, honey, only a dream. I've got you baby, everything's alright."

I was really spooked since I could vividly remember every detail of the nightmare and then realized that it was the one I usually never remembered.

"Darry," I whimpered. "You know that dream I can't ever remember?"

"Yeah, I do, baby," Darry answered. "Did you dream it again?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "And this time I remember it."

I told Darry all about the picnic, the darkness and losing everyone I love and then I started to bawl again.

"Oh, baby," Darry murmured, still rubbing circles on my back. "No wonder you were so scared."

I laid in Darry's arms for a few more minutes, my sobs slowing down until they finally subsided.

Darry yawned sleepily. "Ok, it's time to go back to sleep, Pone."

"Ok," I reluctantly agreed.

Darry tucked me back into bed, then stood up, left my room and closed the door. I tried to go back to sleep as soon as Darry left, I really did, but the memory of that dream made me too scared to sleep. All of a sudden, I heard a loud clap of thunder and saw lightening streak across the sky as rain started to pour outside. I hid my face under the covers as the thunder boomed on, trembling in fear. I couldn't help it; even before Mom and Dad and Johnny and Dallas died, I had always been scared of thunderstorms. The thunder crashed again almost making me jump out of my skin. I decided it was useless to try to go back to sleep alone when I was this scared. All I wanted was Darry. I climbed out of bed and padded quietly down the hallway to Darry's room and tried to open his door as noiselessly as I could. The door squeaked loudly and I heard Darry roll over before mumbling,

"Ponyboy?"

I nodded, hurriedly wiping away the tears running down my face from fear of the storm outside.

"Oh, Pony," Darry said gently. "Are you still scared, little buddy?"

I nodded again, leaping into Darry's bed as thunder crashed again outside. Another clap of thunder boomed outside and I buried my head in Darry's shoulder.

"Come here, honey." Darry soothed as he picked me up.

"Ok," I whispered as the thunder crashed yet again outside.

I started to bawl again and buried my face in Darry's chest.

"Please don't leave me Darry." I mumbled through my tears.

"Oh, Ponyboy," Darry soothed, "I promise I will never ever leave you, honey. I'll always be with you."

"Darry," I asked, suddenly remembering, "Johnny said in my dream that he and Dally would always be with me but they're not here. What did he mean?"

"Well," Darry smiled. "Johnny meant that he'd always be with you in your heart."

"You mean like in our memories like Mom and Dad?"

Darry nodded and began to stroke my hair and very softly I heard him begin to sing,

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

"The other night dear as I lay sleeping," I began singing along with Darry. "I dreamt I held you in my arms. When I awoke dear I was mistaken, so I hung my head and cried."

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

"That was Mom's lullaby, wasn't it?" I asked when we had finished singing.

Darry nodded.

"I miss her a lot" I sighed. "Dad too."

"Me too, little buddy," Darry murmured, wiping away the last of my tears. "But then I remember I've still got you and Soda here with me. I love you guys more than anything in the world. You both are my sunshine."

"You're my sunshine too, Darry," I admitted "Even though we fight sometimes."

I hugged Darry tightly and he hugged me back just as tight. Then, I let out a huge yawn and Darry laughed.

"Alright, it's time for bed."

"Do you mind if I sleep in your bed, tonight?" I asked sheepishly.

"Not at all, baby." Darry smiled.

Then he tucked me in and threw an arm across me and I wiggled in closer to his chest. Soon the sound of Darry's light breathing filled my ears and I fast asleep before I knew it. After that night, I would never have another nightmare for a long time.


End file.
